


Sixths and Teams

by Arytra



Series: Wild West Rangers Alternate Universe [2]
Category: Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, Power Rangers Time Force
Genre: Background Angela/Joel, Background Jen/Alex, Carter is a good Red Ranger, Gen, Mostly Fluff, Touches on racism and sexism during the 1940s, Wes is good but learning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:00:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27171440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arytra/pseuds/Arytra
Summary: Ryan needs to pass on the 6th morpher but doesn't want to deal with people he doesn't know which leads Carter dealing with one twin that hates him and the other who is adjusting to mediating a full team.
Series: Wild West Rangers Alternate Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1983295
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Sixths and Teams

Carter headed into the base that had been set up for the Power Ranger's Special Forces during World War 2. Each of the teams had their own base set up, though this one was similar to Leo’s back in World War 1 from what his friend had told him. Carter had focused more on saving people during his long run as a Ranger. Most teams went a decade. Carter had gone far longer and into the Depression as he just tried to save people until Wes had turned the tables on him. They hadn’t had the finances to pull off something quite this nice, but it was good enough for Carter’s group who had just been happy to have a place of operations. The Zords had allowed for the Wes’ Rangers to travel where they were needed, shifting to accommodate the various teams as they always had. Considering that Kimberly Hart had been from a future universe, that also meant that sometimes what the Zords became were beyond the comprehension of the Rangers now, something that the government had tried to examine many times and were told that it was simply magic. It was hard to tell what would exist in the future and what was just imagination when the Zords had also been giant animals during their run. Regardless, it meant that Power Rangers were able to stay stationed in the United States and in a rather nice base.

He hadn't wanted to come here and he was certain that Alex wouldn't want to see him either, but it was important and Ryan hadn't wanted to do it. He managed to keep his face straight when he thought of the other man who had lived with the demons for years before coming back. Ryan still didn't feel accepted by humans, which to be fair, he often wasn't nor did he really understand a lot of the social taboos that followed. Dana had jumped to help him try to acclimate as had Carter, but it never really completely stuck. Miss Fairweather had mentioned that there were cases of wild children who had been lost in jungles, similar to Tarzan, but that the actual children never truly were able to adjust. Due to all of this, Ryan preferred to stay with the rest of his family and had asked Carter to handle the task he was here for instead.

While Carter had been a hero, someone that Leo trusted to pass the Power onto, the rest of his team had been controversial. Different races and genders than what people had expected had caused a lot of people to side-eye them in the middle of the Depression. Then when he finally chose a “red-blooded American boy” meaning white and male, he'd been raced by demons. They'd had far more problems than Leo's team. Mike had agreed that Ryan was the best choice to carry on his morpher though. That was what most of the people didn't understand: Reds chose the next Red, they found a team to work with them, but Sixths found Sixths. He wasn't sure how they'd changed the Titanium powers, but he'd been assured it would match the rest of Wes' team. He wanted to give it to Wes to give to Alex, but Ryan had been firm: It needed to go directly to Alex. Carter had tried to argue that Alex wasn't going to take it since he wanted to keep an eye on his brother the same way Captain Mitchell had kept an eye on them. 

“I know,” Ryan said. “But he can give it to the person who will protect them.” 

Carter hadn't fought with him after that and figured it was a big brother thing that he wouldn't understand. He shook off his many thoughts, and reservations, as he reached the front desk. He smiled politely at the secretary.

“I'm here to see Mr. Collins,” he said. She looked at him.

“Who should I say is calling?” She asked.

“Carter Grayson,” he answered. She winced a bit at that and Carter felt for her. He wouldn't have wanted to be in the middle of one of Alex and his tiffs either. It was why Carter tried to work with the younger twin in the first place.

“He's not in the best mood,” she warned. “The younger Mr. Collins brought home two new people.”

Carter felt a twinge of pride for that. He'd been waiting for Wes to finish his team. He wondered if that was why Ryan had felt the need to pass on the power now. As it was, he still needed in. “I understand, but it's important.”

She nodded with a look of 'It's your funeral' before getting up to let her boss know. She came back and waved him in. Carter could tell that she wasn't kidding. He'd always found it fascinating that the twins seemed to match their personalities in their very different looks. Wes's free blond hair and trusting eyes seemed to almost be as bright as his sunny and cheerful personality. Alex's black hair had been touched up for professional purposes and his eyes were far more suspicious which matched his darker personality. It wasn't that Alex was evil by any means, but he was more stern and harsh. Carter took a seat in the chair across from him, trying to ignore the piercing stare the other man was giving. He wasn't going to fight him. He'd only done that once to help Wes in the beginning. This time, he was going to let Alex keep the control he needed.

If anything, that seemed to annoy Alex even more and Carter wondered if he'd needed the fight. He was once again thankful for Captain Mitchell at this point who had encouraged his daughter to do her best and supported her when that meant becoming a Ranger. He hadn't been too upset with his son becoming a Ranger either, other than just wanting to get to know him before sending him into battle. The contrast between the Collins brothers and the Mitchell family were enormous. Then again, neither of the Collins had lost anyone to an enemy they hadn't even known existed. He couldn't help but wonder if that had left Captain Mitchell more open to making certain that it didn’t happen to anyone else which was why he'd offered to help Carter in the first place. The young firefighter had appreciated his elder's help.

“Why are you here?” Alex finally asked. Carter sat up even straighter which Alex matched. He pulled out the last morpher and set it on Alex's desk. The other man looked at it and then at Carter.

“Power Rangers have a Sixth Ranger,” Carter explained. “I passed down my red morpher to Wes and trusted him to finish picking a team. But the Sixth Ranger is outside of the team. They never show up at the same time and they're what the team needs. Ours was Ryan.”

“Captain Mitchell's son,” Alex said. “I read about that. He did good work.”

Carter was impressed that he didn't list Ryan's backstory as everyone else seemed to do. He may have been constantly at odds with Alex due to Alex having a large big brother complex, but he did believe that if he hadn't given the morpher to Wes, they could have been friends. One day, age difference or not, they still might. He might not be happy about Carter bringing his brother into things, but at least he was willing to acknowledge the good Carter’s team had done. All of them.

"Mike, Leo's brother, thought that it would help him out a bit at learning to be a brother and entrusted him with it. Ryan did perfect," Carter said firmly. He knew that Ryan still worried about it sometime and there wasn't anything that Carter could do to change that other than repeating over and over that he'd done well. "Ryan needed to pass it on to someone. He thought of you."

Alex looked at it and then back at Carter with the look on his face that Carter was expecting. Before he could say anything, Carter had his hand up. 

"I know you don't want to leave this position to anyone else," he said. "So Ryan wants you to choose the Sixth Ranger for this team. He said that if anyone knew the right person to care for their brother's team, it would be an older sibling."

Alex picked up the morpher. "Why didn't he come to tell me this then?" He asked. Carter gave a half-smile.

"He's still awkward around people he doesn't know," Carter answered. He was just glad that he felt comfortable around the team now. That had been a long first couple of weeks and he didn't want to go through it again.

Alex just turned it over in his hand as Carter talked. "I don't have anyone in mind. Is there a time limit?"

"No," he reassured him. "Just whenever it feels right. Letting Wes' team become a team first might be better anyway."

Alex set the morpher down as if just now remembering who he was talking to. "About that..."

"Alex, you have to let him choose," Carter said firmly. When Alex went to protest, Carter sighed. "He's not just a civilian. Not anymore. You need to let him feel like he can protect the world."

Alex didn't look like that helped. "He went into a Nazi facility and found two mutants that he brought home. They're mostly human still and their minds haven't been corrupted, but he knew them for all of five minutes, Carter," Alex snapped. Carter smiled softly.

"He knew what he needed," Carter answered. "Sometimes, we spend time picking out teams like I did. Other times they land in our lap like poor Leo. Andros ended up finding the Red Morpher after T.J. threw it into the rubble when Justin was paralyzed during the 1906 earthquake."

"Paralyzed?" Alex asked, sounding interested. Carter nodded.

"They were in San Francisco when the earthquake happened. Justin, the blue Ranger when T.J. was in charge, ended up getting buried under some rubble when he was trying to save a couple of kids. All of them lived, but Justin was paralyzed from it. He was a kid himself when he first started and then he almost died right when he was about to hit his majority," he answered. "T.J. was horrified and he ended up throwing his own morpher away. Andros found it."

"And he kept it?" Alex asked.

"He'd lost his neighborhood from what I understand and his sister at an earlier time so he had nothing left. He ended up meeting with the others and TJ took the blue morpher to honor Justin," he finished. Alex nodded.

"That doesn't make me feel better about this," he said and Carter smiled.

"You realized that you're part of the team too, right?" He asked. "Even without taking the morpher, you're a mentor. Captain Mitchell and Miss Fairweather are both important members of our team."

Alex's anger died down a bit. "I'll never forgive you for giving the morpher to Wes," he warned. "But you're not as bad of a man as I thought you were, Grayson."

"I appreciate that," Carter said. He wasn't going to try for more than that right now. "I'll leave the morpher with you. I should go visit Wes."

Alex made another unhappy face, but sighed. "I'll have the secretary let you in." 

He motioned to the door as a dismissal. Carter gave a quick nod and headed out, not wanting to press his luck. He had to wait a couple of minutes and then he was led to the Rangers’ area. Wes was sitting next to a young man that Carter didn't recognize and was seemingly trying to calm him down. A woman that Carter hadn't met was arguing with Lucas and Jen just looked unhappy over everything. The secretary was gone before he could ask, not wanting to be involved with this at all. Carter waited and watched.

"Stop yelling at him!" The woman was yelling. Lucas' hands were clenched at his side as he glared back at her.

"I wasn't," Lucas said. "I just said he needed to pull himself together."

"It's the same thing with him!" The woman yelled. Carter decided against asking Jen what was going on. Alex and he might have a bit of an understanding, but not enough that he was going to go to Alex's fianceé. Instead, he decided to go see Wes and the new boy. Wes looked up at him and gave him a quick smile before turning back to his companion. Carter waited patiently as Wes just soothed him. The boy looked up and saw Carter, trying quickly to pull himself together before pausing and looking a little confused. Carter didn't know what he'd done, but apparently it wasn't making it worse. Wes decided it was time for introductions. 

"Trip," he said gently. "This is Carter Grayson. He was the Red Ranger before me."

Trip nodded once. "Hello."

"Hello," Carter said softly. He nodded to Wes who nodded back. "I had to stop by and I thought I'd see the new recruits I heard about."

"You had to talk to Alex?" Wes asked, sounding a little amused. Carter just nodded. He knew as well as Wes how that went usually.

"I needed to give him something," he explained. At Wes' worried look, Carter held his hands up. "It wasn't anything bad."

Wes nodded, though he still looked curious. Carter wasn't about to reveal that card to him yet, however, so he was just going to have to continue to be confused for now. Wes realized that and didn't look happy, but let it go. It was one of the rare times that Wes and Alex looked similar. For near identical twins, they managed to look different more often than they looked alike. 

"We found Trip and Katie," Wes explained, trying to find a way to say it without hurting his teammates. Fortunately, Carter caught on quickly.

"It looks like you chose two good people," he said, though he was a little worried about Trip. He had faith that Wes knew what he was doing.

"Trip's a mechanical genius," Wes said quickly, seemingly having noticed Carter's slight reluctance. Carter relaxed at that. It made a lot of sense for Wes to bring someone like that into the fight. He had two soldiers and whatever the other woman could do. He needed someone to balance them all out.

"I see," he said. "That was good planning."

Wes sat up a little straighter from pride, as did Trip, and Carter relaxed. Both of them could use a little more self-esteem. The other woman seemed to have noticed that he was there and glanced over. Wes motioned for her to join them. "Katie! Come meet Carter."

She did so, heading over and going off Wes' cue. She held out a hand which he took and easily shook. She was a lot stronger than he would have thought and he found himself wincing. She quickly let go and looked apologetic. He gave her an approving look. 

"I see why Wes chose you," he said, hoping his hand wasn't broken. She smiled easily at that. "You remind me of a stronger Kelsey."

"High praise," Wes said with a grin. Katie looked at him. "Kelsey was Carter's Yellow."

"You mean you were a Ranger too?" She asked, sitting down next to him. He nodded.

"I'm the one who passed on the morphers to Wes," he answered. He looked at his junior in Red. "It was the right choice."

He could see Jen didn't look happy out of the corner of his eye, but he hadn't spent his life trying to make other people happy. He wanted them safe and he'd managed that. If his team was happier now that they were, it was a bonus that he was happy for. Katie just sat back. "So, what was your team like?" 

He could see Trip looking just as curious. To his amusement, while both Lucas and Jen tried to look disapproving, both of them seemed to be listening in as well. Wes already knew his predecessor's background and just quietly watched his teammates for their reactions instead. Still, he knew Wes was listening. The younger Red Ranger loved a good story.

"I received my morpher from Leo after the war. He thought I would be good with it. He's a good man. After, I went to my superior, Captain Mitchell who was the fire chief where I worked. We worked together and brought in a brilliant woman named Ms. Fairweather. They acted as Alex acts for you. It allowed me to find my team instead of worrying about details. While Dana, his daughter, was a thought in my mind, the first one I found was Kelsey, the yellow. More, she found me.

“Apparently, she'd heard that there was a Red Ranger and wanted in. She asked to join up. I wasn't sure about it until she kicked a demon off a building and raced down the fire escape to make sure it was destroyed. I handed it to her right then. The second was Chad. The disapproval I got from Kelsey told me that I wanted more like her."

"Why?" Jen asked and Carter smiled a bit.

"Because their reasoning was wrong," he answered. "They disapproved because she was a woman and active. She'd been adventuring before that. I thought that if they brushed off a great Ranger like Kelsey, then I should turn my attention to other 'disreputable' people. Chad worked in the ocean. If Kelsey was excitable and rushing into danger, Chad was calm and stayed back to think about things. They made a good team. He became the Blue Ranger. At that point, I wanted Dana. I informed Captain Mitchell that I was going to recruit her so that it wouldn't come as a surprise. She was the only uncertain one. She knew she could handle it, but Dana is a doctor. She wasn't sure how she'd fit in. Once I reassured her that I needed her, she was ready to go."

"Haven't you said she was your best choice?" Wes teased and Carter sighed.

"It turns out when half of your team wants to rush into danger, having someone to heal them is a necessity. I don't think anyone worked harder than Dana," he answered. "Joel was the last member we recruited and he's been worthwhile, but he jumps into trouble just like Kelsey," he said. "His daredevil stunts caught my attention. He was a little reluctant at first, but he did join. A lucky break for Miss Fairweather, Joel, and their three children."

“If they’re married…” Katie started and Carter shook his head.

“They aren’t,” he answered. “Marriage being illegal to them just never stopped them.”

Carter had, on the other hand, had to stop the rest of the team, especially Ryan, from storming the Capital in protest and a possible coup which was easier said than done. Someone needed to fight to force the issue of interracial marriage, but that would have kept them away from continuing to help others and neither of the couple were willing to do that. The newer Rangers were all listening at this point. Even Jen and Lucas weren't pretending not to. He wasn't that surprised. He'd done the same when Leo had explained his team so many years before. He looked at all of them and saw Trip looked like he wanted to ask something, but was nervous. He motioned for the teen to ask his question which Trip fortunately did. "Do you still get along?"

"You bet," Carter said, smiling at that. His family would be waiting for him to get back. "We didn't leave each other after that."

"You were a firefighter," Jen stated. "Why didn't you choose other professions like that?"

"You mean why did I choose random civilians over people who were more trained," Carter said. He didn't make it sound like a question. He recognized Alex's influence when he heard it. "Being a Power Ranger isn't just being a soldier. There's a lot of history that goes behind it. Here's something you probably didn't know: The girl who got us the Power? She wasn't from our world. She was a high school girl from another reality. She wasn't a professional other than what she had learned through being a Ranger. It's a learning experience that can make a person stronger. Not just physically, but emotionally. It helped Joel learn that he could do daredevil escapades, but also how to be safer about it. Leo learned to be a leader. I learned what a family really was."

There was silence in the room as he finished, each of them taking the words to heart. Carter was happy to see that, especially from Jen and Lucas, because now it wasn't Wes as the odd man out. Now they had two soldiers and three civilians. More importantly, they had two civilians that had been severely hurt and most likely had more wrong with them than the group would be willing to admit to Carter. Just as Carter didn't like to talk about Ryan's issues, he had the feeling this team would feel the same with its more fragile members. He looked at all of them.

"I know you guys can be the same," he said. "You're arguing right now and trying to figure things out, but you're a family. You just haven't realized it yet."

He stood up and gave a quick salute. Wes took his hand and he smiled at the younger Ranger as he shook it. "Thanks, Carter."

"Call me if you have trouble," Carter said firmly. He paused before continuing, leaning in so that only Wes could hear him. "And make sure that Alex doesn't feel left out."

Wes nodded quickly and Carter headed out the door. There was less arguing than when he'd entered and he hope that his words had reached them at least a little. He wanted them to be better for it and he wanted Alex to be better for it. He knew they could succeed if they worked together.


End file.
